Real Estate, a lively Tuscan market for offices, retail space, and production sites

The exchange of offices and warehouses is climbing, while transactions on office space are stable. The market on non-residential real estate lived a lively 2013, spent in recovery and tracing a regional scenario that counters the indicators that emerged from national trends, especially as pertains to sales. From the perspective of prices, however, the decline did not spare Tuscany’s real estate [market]. The Osservatorio Immobiliare dell’Agenzia delle Entrate [Tax Revenue Service’s Real Estate Observatory] provides the statistics that highlight some interesting factors for the region’s real estate sector.
Last year, sales in Italy reached 12.1 billion Euros, with a 16.6% contraction due primarily to office space and production sites, while the number of closings did not reach 40,000 (-9.3%), for a total square footage of 13.7 million sq m. Tuscany, however, moved in the opposite direction, surprising in terms of the intensity of activity, but suffering in terms of prices, and more so in the major cities than in smaller towns.

With more than 50,000 real estate units [destined to] office space, Tuscany collects approximately 8% of the division’s stock at the national level, and last year, with a +8.5% and approximately 830 closings, it registered the strongest increase of volumes in Italy: in practice, approximately 1.6% of the real-estate units destined to office use on the territory changed hands. The largest concentration of activity took place in areas of Florence an Livorno, with good levels also [registered] in Lucca and Pisa. The prices, which remain the highest on the peninsula after Lazio and Liguria, experienced a 3% decrease, for an average value of 1,742 Euros per sq m, which climbs to 2,050 Euros (-3.5%) in major centers. Analyzing the various areas, if the Province of Florence shows prices close to 3,000 Euros (2.870 is average), in the Province of Siena the average prices span between 1,500 and 2,000 Euros per sq m, and in the provinces of Grosseto and Pisa, between 1,000 and 1,500 Euros per sq m.

Another positive surprise comes from real estate destined to production uses. In this case, the variation in sales was 13% higher than the previous year’s, and pertained to 660 buildings: in other words, approximately 1.33% of Tuscany’s total stock of this type of real estate. Despite a decrease of 4 to 5%, average prices reach nearly 700 Euros per sq m at the regional level, while they reach 830 Euros per sq m when we only take into account provincial capitals [major cities]. The highest prices are found in the area of Lucca, on the Firenze-Prato axis, and around Siena.

With a relatively weak market for commercial properties in Italy (sales are down -9.3%), Tuscany was the only relevant area (considering the comprehensive volumes which place 9% [of the country’s] real estate properties destined to commercial use in the region) to close 2013 with a substantially stable (-0.5%) level of transactions. In terms of sales, the area of Florence and the section between Pisa and Livorno were characterized by a good intensity of operations, whereas in terms of prices, the Province of Siena showed high levels. Overall, the average price remained at 1,900 Euros, despite a 4% drop, while the drop was of 5% to 2,200 Euros in the major centers. Returning to the volume of sales, the closings pertained to 1% of the total number of commercial properties, confirming an activity that in line with that of the Lombardy area.